This is the year

This is the year I write my book and become whatever I'm going to become.

Fixing Rigpa

When I was working for Rigpa, the buddhist group to which I belong, I frequently heard people (myself included) say, "We need to fix Rigpa" or, "Doing 'x' would fix Rigpa," or "Why doesn't 'x person or group' fix Rigpa?"

After much thought, reflection, blood, sweat, and tears, I have finally found the answer. The secret is, of course, in the teachings. The Buddha said that you can't cover the entire surface of the earth with leather, but you can cover your feet with leather instead.

Rigpa doesn't need fixing. We are what needs fixing. We spend our time trying to fix our problems, one after another. But there is no end to our problems because we live in samsara. Samsara is, by definition, a giant hairball of knotty problems. There's no way to fix it. The only thing we can fix is ourselves.

We join Rigpa to find a way out of samsara, out of the hairball we're choking on. Instead, we find hairballs here too. We get dismayed and think it shouldn't be that way. So we think up all sorts of ways to fix Rigpa and get really upset and frustrated when we can't.

We can't fix Rigpa because what one person likes, another dislikes.

I no longer live in a place with a Rigpa center, but there are a couple of Rigpa students nearby. So we've been getting together at each others' houses for Sangha Days. We all look forward to them and absolutely love them and they recharge us. We take turns reading the script out loud, watch the teachings, practice, and eat what we've all brought to share for lunch. What could be simpler?

I used to dread going to Sangha Days at Rigpa centers. Because our little group comes together with no expectations, no agendas, no habitual dysfunctional group dynamics, we have lots of space to just enjoy the teachings, have wonderful discussions, and work with ourselves during the practice. The organization called Rigpa doesn't even exist. But yet it does :-)

As we fix ourselves, Rigpa will also fix itself.